Hi, all. Just a thought to help start your weekend.

Deer, 1. Truck, 0. That was the score one particular night a week or so ago as my wife and I were driving home from her sister’s house. We had recently seen many deer in separate places along a highway route nearby. But this night, we were traveling along a different highway, headlight beams on high because it was so dark. I drove across the long bridge as I entered the town through which we were to pass, and standing there in the literal middle of the road was the proverbial “deer caught in the headlights.”

It was as if the creature and I locked gazes for a split second. I could see the whites of its eyes as it stared at me in disbelief. I swerved as much as I dared with the bridge bannisters still so close to us, and the beautiful four-legged animal NEVER MOVED!  I submit into evidence the photo of my driver’s-side headlight cover (what’s left of it).

I’ll pause here. No creature was killed or maimed. No blood was shed. But, wow, what a noise a deer’s hard head can cause when it makes contact with a truck’s headlights at about fifty miles per hour. Only then did the deer run off. Only because I interrupted its sightseeing expedition did the thing decide to turn and run off the pavement. Only after a swift whack to the head did the animal see the need to go elsewhere.

I can only speak for myself, but I seriously suspect that a great many of us are just as stubborn and hardheaded as that deer. We stand our ground, feet planted firmly in places we have no business of being. We stare into the darkness daring anyone or anything to try and move us. We ignore the very real possibility of danger, calamity, or even death and refuse to back down. Why? Because we think we know what’s best.

Had the deer listened to me yelling, “Move!” it might have saved itself and my truck some pain. If we would only listen to the Lord as we wander about the roads of this life, what dangers we might miss, what pain we might avoid, what “deer in the headlights” moments we might never experience.

This week, keep your stubborn self alert to the dangers that come your way. And if you’re the one in the driver’s seat, pay attention to those others who are too stubborn to move. Repairs can be made. But if you can avoid the abrupt collision altogether, it makes for a better journey!

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.